


Forest Lights

by BlackenedThorne (BlueThorne)



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Fluff, M/M, POV First Person, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 13:02:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19426537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueThorne/pseuds/BlackenedThorne
Summary: The beginning of summer brings out the fireflies to Fortuna. Watching them has been a family tradition for Credo and Nero since they were both young.





	Forest Lights

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a little summer-themed event for my server. It's just some cute nonsense of my best boys.

I told Credo not to assign me to the outside of Mitis Forest anymore, which was definitely why I’d spent another five hours patrolling between trees and the city’s edge. Not a single demon showed up in that time. I was bored out of my damn skull until the sun started to set just as my shift ended. 

Among the trees, yellow lights smaller than a match began to flicker on and off. Credo and Kyrie’s parents used to say that summer didn’t start until the fireflies appeared, but I wasn’t sure how true that was. The muggy heat had left my stuffy uniform plastered to me during every patrol for the past couple weeks.

I was supposed to go report back to headquarters at the end of a shift, but it wasn’t like I had anything to report. Plopping down in the dry grass outside the forest’s edge, I stretched out my legs and watched as more lights flickered to life until they outnumbered the stars. I hadn’t bothered watching them in a while, but when we were kids, Kyrie and I would chase them around the backyard to the sound of Credo constantly reminding us not to snatch them out of the air. 

Just like back then, his voice broke through my fun. This time a smack to the top of my head punctuated his words. “You were supposed to report back an hour ago.”

“It’s been an hour?” I leaned back until I flopped down to lie in the grass, staring up at Credo’s folded arms and furrowed brow. Behind him, the sky had turned black. The only light came from the half-moon, the bugs, and the lamps in the city behind us. “Well, nothing happened, so there’s my report,” I said. 

“Nero.” The warning in his voice gave way to a sigh, and his anger faded to worry. “Even so, you should report back so I know you’re alright.”

“Nothing’s ever going to happen to me on this patrol anyway. This spot’s always dead and you know it. You never want to give me a real challenge.”

“Having a patrol isn’t about having a challenge. I don’t like sending you into more infested areas when you refuse to have a partner along.” His tired eyes drifted from me toward the sea of fireflies, and he settled himself down to sit beside me. He usually complained when I came back with grass stains on my white uniform, so I wouldn’t have expected him to join me on the ground, but the fireflies must have had him distracted enough to keep from scolding me too much. I was in luck for once. 

I sat back up to watch some stragglers drift out of the trees toward us. “Guess it’s summer, huh?” I said. 

“I suppose so.” He smiled. “You always did like watching fireflies.”

“Nah, Kyrie was always the one dragging us out to look at them.” After I spoke, I realized how stupid that sounded considering I’d been staring at them for an hour. 

Hearing Credo laugh was so rare that my eyes widened at the sound of the breathy chuckle. “You were the only child I’d ever seen catch a whole jar full of them and then immediately cry about it,” he said. 

“What? That’s not true! You never let us catch them!” And I wouldn’t have cried over something like that. I never cried over anything as a kid. 

Credo hummed, a soft smile still on his lips. “I guess you don’t remember. You were very young at the time. It was right after Mom and Dad took you in. We took out mason jars to catch fireflies, and you got more than anyone, but as soon as I closed the lid and handed it back to you, you got all teary-eyed and insisted that I open it back up and let them all out.”

“Why would I do that?” As I spoke, a firefly landed on the back of Credo’s still hand. For some reason, I wanted to reach out and brush it away so I could place my hand over his instead. I almost never got to see him relaxed, and the sight of him there calm and smiling in the dark made my heart beat hard enough to rattle my chest. 

“I remember you seemed so panicked that I thought you were hurt or something, and you said something like, ‘They can’t go home if they’re trapped. They don’t like it in there. They want to go home.’ And so I opened the jar and let them all go, and you made me promise not to catch them anymore.”

“I don’t remember that,” I grumbled. “Just some dumb kid thing.”

“Maybe, but I think you were right.” The firefly lept from his hand as he reached up to ruffle my hair. He still saw me as a kid, and even though the thought made my shoulders sag, I leaned into his touch. It was still nice to feel, still nice to just be alone with him for once. 

“We don’t need to go back to headquarters, do we?” I asked. 

“No, not right now. I’m finally off for once, but Kyrie might be mad if we’re late for dinner again.”

“Should we go home then?” I sounded so obviously disappointed that I wanted to bite my own tongue off. If Credo noticed, he didn’t show it. 

“We can wait a bit. I haven’t watched the fireflies in a while, and there are so many out here.”

“Yeah.” Looking over to where his hand rested in the grass, I let mine fall alongside it. I hoped the action seemed natural because my heart felt like it would beat out of my chest as my skin brushed against his. “It’s nice out here.”

“It is.” He didn’t move his hand away. 


End file.
